


That Simple Act Made Him Fall For You

by devilishangel



Category: The Good Place (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 04:17:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16654102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devilishangel/pseuds/devilishangel
Summary: It was sickeningly sweet (he definitely wasn't jealous of the affection the dog was getting from Eleanor) so Michael rebooted them again.





	That Simple Act Made Him Fall For You

Michael isn't sure when it first happened, even now when he rewatches the reboots he can't quite see the moment his feelings appeared.

However he knows the first time it showed was probably somewhere around attempt 218. He made Tahani and Eleanor soulmates and for two weeks everything seemed to go along his plan (the chaos sequence was better then before, the two humans continued annoying and torturing each other and everything was, for the lack of a better word, perfect).

And then Eleanor became better. She stopped thinking of Tahani as an annoying tall giraffe, started cleaning up dishes after Tahani's tea parties and even started doing nice things for her 'soulmate' like bringing her frozen yoghurt when she noticed how unhappy Tahani was about Vicky (their next door neighbour) playing Kamilah's music all the time.

None of those things should have made Michael reboot, he had watched Eleanor do all of those things in the earlier reboots and it never lasted long enough to stop the torture (it was only a matter of time before Tahani said or did something that would make Eleanor go back to her _'go fork yourself you mean giraffe'_ ways).

Two days later he watched Eleanor and Tahani walk through the neighbourhood, holding hands and smiling.

He rebooted them the same night, telling the demons that Eleanor figured things out and was planning a trip to the medium place

He never made Tahani Eleanor's soulmate again.

Next seven attempts there were no soulmates and he kept hiring Eleanor as his assistant (not because he wanted to keep her close but out of some very evil and demonic reasons, he is still sure that the fact he can't quite remember what those reasons were proves nothing).

The next time it happened was attempt 333 and Eleanor's soulmate was a golden retriever. That one fell apart very quickly and if he could, Michael would blush at the memory of it.

They were four hours into the reboot and Eleanor seemed pretty satisfied with her newest soulmate, in fact she was already making up nicknames for him and getting treats from Janet. It was sickeningly sweet _(he definitely wasn't jealous of the affection the dog was getting from Eleanor)_ so Michael rebooted them again.

Things only got worse after that one. In attempt 362 Eleanor and Chidi were soulmates and they kissed at Tahani's party, Michael didn't even wait for Eleanor's speech, he snapped his fingers and rebooted. In attempt 499 he made one of his demons Eleanor's soulmate and nearly gave the whole thing away when he saw the two of them hugging, he got lucky nobody heard him growl in annoyance except for some random demon that was too scared or smart enough so he did not call Michael out.

It was only about two hundred reboots later that Michael got some self control and stopped rebooting them every time something like that happened (it was not his choice but Vicky stopped buying his excuses and called him jealous and pathetic).

Next few reboots he kept himself as far away from Eleanor as possible, definitely _not_ seeking out any chance to spend time with her.

After that it got easier for him to ignore his feelings (a move he must have picked up from Eleanor, pushing everything down and covering it up with a mask of happiness). And then she got worried for him and with that small gesture all of those emotions were back, emotions he still couldn't quite name - but they were bittersweet.

He kept the emotions hidden of course, promising himself he would do his best to help Eleanor and the other humans get into the real good place. Even if it meant torturing himself by pushing her towards Chidi, only showing her the memories that would create a connection between the two humans.

But sometimes he lets himself be selfish (he hugs her for a second too long to be considered friendly, asks Janet to get her a few special gifts like she does with Jason, kisses her on the cheek even though he never does that with other humans) and that has to be enough.

Because she is the only thing that truly matters and he will never do anything to hurt her. Not again.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing for Michael and I'm so sorry if he's out of character. If there is anything I should change or improve about the way I write him please let me know in the comments, thank you!


End file.
